Donors - And Survivors Of Tragedies - Agree: Blood Is Precious Gift

People

The Central Florida Blood Bank Appreciates All Donations And Is Always Looking For More.

August 18, 1993|By Cindy Lowe, Sentinel Corresponent

LEESBURG — Sandra Green calls them ''angels of mercy.''

To Jean Martel, they are the people whose gift you don't really appreciate until you need it.

Green, recreation director for Eustis, and Martel, director of marketing and human resources at South Lake Memorial Hospital in Clermont, are talking about the same people: blood donors.

Locally, blood is donated through the Lake County branch of the Central Florida Blood Bank. Branch supervisor Michele Weilant said the bank, which has been here more than 50 years, receives about 10,000 pints a year.

Among Lake County residents, senior citizens and high school students are the most diligent in giving blood, she said.

The blood bank on U.S. Highway 441, diagonally across from Lake Square Mall in Leesburg, welcomes 25 to 35 donors a day, Weilant said. The bloodmobile, which travels through the county, collects blood from 25 to 40 donors a day. Some 65 percent to 70 percent of those are repeat donors, she said.

When a new donor comes in, he or she gets a mini-physical, is questioned about his or her medical history and is screened extensively for high-risk drug use and sexual behavior, Weilant said. If someone fails the testing for any reason, she said, the blood won't be used and the donor will be notified.

''We want to make sure the donor is healthy so we can supply the best blood products available,'' Weilant said.

After the blood is drawn, it goes through a 24- to 48-hour testing procedure.

It then is separated into blood components and stored in a large refrigerator, Weilant said. The Orlando office distributes the blood back to Lake County hospitals.

Volunteer worker Henry Perry, who gives his time and blood to the Lake County branch, describes giving blood as an ''ego trip.''

Donating blood is a way to help others without having to inconvenience oneself, Perry said.

A person not in a position to help someone financially can help others by giving blood, Weilant added.

Blood has no substitute.

''You can't put money into veins,'' she said. ''We are the sole providers of blood and blood products for Lake County hospitals.''

Who knows better the value of blood than those who have received it or benefited from it?

For example, there is Green, whose mother was hospitalized for more than three months for treatment of a malignancy that attacked her bone marrow.

The chemotherapy her mother underwent caused extra stress on her body, affecting the bone marrow's ability to produce blood, Green explained. Green's mother is still confined to bed, but she is home and in good spirits, Green said.

Green is grateful to the blood bank.

In a time of need, ''the blood bank thinks for you and has blood available,'' she said.

Martel received blood and blood platelets during her hospital stay from November 1992 through March. The blood helped her recover from the high doses of chemotherapy used to fight the leukemia attacking her system.

Martel also experienced the effects of chemotherapy on her bone marrow - low production of the red and white blood cells and blood platelets. Martel explained that red blood cells carry oxygen, white blood cells fight infection, and platelets are the clotting factor in the blood.

Leukemia sufferers are at risk of infection and hemorrhaging, Martel said, and blood transfusions keep their blood count up.

Several blood drives were held in Martel's honor in south Lake County, she said.

Before her crisis, she had been a blood donor herself, but she said she had never truly appreciated the significance.

''I had no idea, until I got sick, what it meant,'' Martel said.

Receiving blood was, for her, the difference between life and death, she said.

Green encourages people to donate blood.

It's a ''crucial commodity - more precious than gold,'' she said.

The need for blood is brought to mind when tragedy strikes, Weilant said.